Pricing Strategy
Catalyst project 1200212, Milestone 4, item C. Prices adopted 5 October 2026. The evidence is in the market research; section numbers below refer to it.
In one line
After the funded cohort, the Guided Cohort is $295 and Self-Paced is $210, with supported places at a price the operator chooses for pools too small to pay, so the course stays open to the operators who need it most.
The prices
| Who | Guided Cohort | Self-Paced |
|---|---|---|
| Catalyst funded cohort (now) | Free | Free |
| Standard price | $295 | $210 |
| First paid cohort, booked early | $250 | $210 |
| Supported place: pool estimated to earn under 5,000 ADA a year | Pay what you can, from $0. Suggested $50 | Pay what you can, from $0. Suggested $25 |
| Multi-pool operators and organisations | $295 per seat, no supported places | $210 per seat |
Both tiers are the same full curriculum. Guided Cohort adds the live sessions and an operator supervising the work.
Why these prices
| Decision | Reasoning | Research |
|---|---|---|
| Charge at all | Nothing comparable exists, free or paid. Operator education is free only where a foundation or grant pays, and it is all technical | Section 3 |
| Cohort at $295 | Sits at the level of self-paced blockchain certificates ($299 to $349), below a certificate with live hours ($449), half the closest content match ($600), and near the median for business courses generally ($275) | Sections 3 and 4 |
| Not higher | Cohort courses for salaried professionals run $800 and up. A pool on the 170 ADA minimum fee earns at most about 12,400 ADA a year from that fee (roughly $3,100), so $295 is already close to a tenth of a year's pool income. On a 340 ADA fee it is under 5% | Section 2 |
| Self-paced at $210 | 71% of the cohort price, inside the 70 to 85% band for a self-paced version that keeps projects and assessed work | Section 4 |
| Supported places | 70% of single-pool operators are estimated to earn under 5,000 ADA a year. A fixed price would shut out the pools the course exists for. Scholarships of 50 to 100% are normal practice | Sections 2 and 4 |
| Tier by pool income, not by country | Pool income is paid in ADA at the same rate everywhere, and it can be checked on chain. The application form already verifies the pool | Section 2 |
| Priced in US dollars | ADA moved between $0.14 and $0.87 in twelve months. Every comparable course is priced in dollars, and our delivery costs are in fiat | Sections 2 and 3 |
| Early price of $250 | A 15% early-booking discount, inside the normal 10 to 20% range | Section 4 |
What the buyer gets back
Network rewards currently run at about 2.1% a year, so 100,000 ADA of delegation produces about 2,100 ADA of pool rewards. The pool's fixed fee is paid to the operator first, and only what is left goes to delegators. The sums below are for a pool on the minimum fixed fee of 170 ADA an epoch, with a 1% margin (the median for single pools on that fee).
| Pool stake | Operator earns a year | 100,000 ADA more delegation is worth, to the operator | Delegators' return |
|---|---|---|---|
| 300,000 ADA | 6,300 ADA | 2,100 ADA a year | 0% |
| 590,000 ADA | 12,400 ADA | The fee is now fully covered | 0% |
| 1 million ADA | 12,500 ADA | 21 ADA a year | 0.85% |
| 2 million ADA | 12,700 ADA | 21 ADA a year | 1.47% |
| 3 million ADA | 12,900 ADA | 21 ADA a year | 1.67% |
What this means for the price:
- Below about 590,000 ADA of stake, the course repays itself directly. At $0.25 per ADA, $295 is 1,180 ADA, which is repaid by about 57,000 ADA of new delegation held for a year.
- Above 590,000 ADA, new delegation barely changes the operator's fee income. It goes almost entirely to the delegators, lifting their return towards the network rate. Growth still matters: it makes block production regular, makes the pool worth choosing, and protects the fee income the operator already has. Losing delegation back below the line costs 2,100 ADA a year for every 100,000 ADA lost.
- On a 340 ADA fee the line sits at about 1.18 million ADA, and the operator's fee income tops out at about 24,800 ADA a year. Delegators earn nothing until then.
Mission is what wins delegation for a small pool
A delegator in a pool that has not yet covered its fixed fee earns nothing. Nobody delegates to such a pool for the return. They delegate because of what the pool stands for and what it funds: a cause, a community, a tool, a region, a voice in governance. Above the line, returns across pools converge on the same network rate, so the reason to choose one pool over another is again what it is for.
That is the subject of the course. It is not a promise of delegation. It teaches an operator to say plainly what the pool is for, who it serves, and why a delegator should back it, and to run the pool as a business that can keep that promise. The 57,000 ADA figure is the test the course sets itself for the smallest pools, not a guarantee.
Fit with the proposal
The funded proposal said payment was "planned to be minimal / voluntary from participants". This strategy keeps to that:
- Minimal: the standard price is at the bottom of the paid range for comparable courses.
- Voluntary: the pools least able to pay choose what they pay, including nothing.
What it costs to deliver
Time is costed at the proposal's operating rate of $75 an hour. The hours are working estimates to be checked against the funded cohort.
| Cost | Hours | Cohort of 20 | Cohort of 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Five live sessions, with preparation and write-up (3 hours each) | 15 | $1,125 | $1,125 |
| Reviewing assessed work (8 modules, 10 minutes each per learner) | 27 / 13 | $2,000 | $1,000 |
| Onboarding, messages and administration | 8 | $600 | $600 |
| On-chain fees (under 10 ADA per learner so far) | $50 | $25 | |
| Total | $3,775 | $2,750 | |
| Per seat | $189 | $275 |
A self-paced learner still costs about $100 in assessment review, so $210 leaves a margin but not a large one.
Not included: marketing time, card processing fees (assumed 3.5%), and the Andamio platform fee after the grant, which is not yet known.
Break-even
| Cohort of 20 | Seats needed at full price |
|---|---|
| At $295 | 14 |
| At the $250 early price | 16 |
So a cohort can carry about six supported places from its own income. Beyond that, each supported place needs a sponsor at the delivery cost of about $190 a seat: a further Catalyst round, a sponsoring pool, or an ecosystem body.
What to expect
- The funded cohort filled 6 of 20 seats at a price of zero. Price was not the barrier. Awareness and operators' time were.
- The paying market is small: about 564 single-pool operators are estimated to earn 5,000 ADA a year or more, and IOG counts 291 that mint reliably, down from 555.
- A realistic first paid year is one or two cohorts and a handful of self-paced sales. The price covers delivery; it does not fund a business.
- Outcomes will sell the next cohort. The strongest sales material is what funded-cohort pools gained in delegation, which is why the cohort's results need recording.
How the price will be tested and changed
- Exit survey, 26 October 2026. Add the four price-sensitivity questions (too cheap, a bargain, getting expensive, too expensive) to the participant feedback form. With six to twenty answers this is a steer only.
- Waiting list. Ask everyone on the mailing list whether they would enrol at $210, $295 and $395.
- Real sales. The first paid cohort is the real test.
| If this happens | Then |
|---|---|
| Fewer than half the full-price seats sell | Hold the price, fix reach first. Cut the price only if people say price is the reason |
| A cohort is oversubscribed twice | Raise the cohort price by 15% |
| ADA holds below $0.15 or above $0.50 for three months | Review the dollar prices and the 5,000 ADA line |
| The minimum fixed fee is cut to 75 ADA | Re-run the income estimate and review the supported-place line |
| Andamio's fee after the grant is confirmed | Add it to the cost table and re-check break-even |
Review after every cohort, and at least once a year.
How it is put into effect
- Stripe: set the two prices in the dashboard against the existing Self-Paced and Guided Cohort products. No code change is needed.
- Supported places: issued as a Stripe discount code after the application form has verified the pool on chain.
- Paying in ADA: offered on request at the day's rate, into the course treasury.
Still open
- Confirm the delivery hours against what the funded cohort actually took.
- Find out what Andamio will charge once the grant ends.
- Decide whether card payments are quoted with or without VAT.
- Decide who funds supported places beyond the six a cohort can carry.